When She Came Along
by ONiONLADi777
Summary: School, friends, family, life in general, it was all a waste of his time...until she came along. .squall x rinoa.
1. Chapter 1: At The Beginning

..»When She Came Along  
..»Chapter 1: At The Beginning  
..»By: ONiONLADi777  
..»Read and Reviewed by Lavender341 (thanks Nikki!)  
..»Disclaimer: I never even said I owned it in the first place! And also, **beware of F-bombs**. Seifer tends to use them loosely.

* * *

A muffled growl came from underneath the sheets, and the groggily awakened angrily slammed his hand on the top of his alarm clock to silence its ever-annoying alarm. He retreated to his dark sheets and comforter, stuffing his head underneath his pillow and trying to get as much sleep as the alarm clock allowed. It was a few minutes later when the alarm resounded through the dark room again. He tried to ignore it and just go back to sleep, but to no avail. With another annoyed growl, he, once again, hit the snooze button with nearly enough force to break it. Again he tried ignoring it when it went off a few minutes later, but this attempt was also futile. Groaning, he rolled over and sat on the edge of his bed, picking up the alarm clock off the nightstand and turning it off.

With utmost reluctance, he turned on his bedside lamp and stood up, rubbing his eyes tiredly as they adjusted to the light. Stumbling forward in the faint light, he made it out into the hallway and into the bathroom. It seemed Seifer had already come and left, the mirror still clouded with steam from a shower. The brunette knew he had been up early for some _unfathomable_ reason.

Well, not quite unfathomable. After all, Seifer _was _senior, and today was the first day of his senior privileges, first day of the last time he'd ever actually _have _to go to school, the first day of the end of his high school years. Squall couldn't help but feel jealousy running through him, knowing he, too, should have been a senior.

But no. Instead, he was getting ready for the first day of his junior year. Again.

Right on cue, Seifer strolled into the bathroom as Squall tugged at his messy hair, the blonde humming something he had heard on the radio. The brunette gave his roommate a strange look, one eyebrow raised. Seifer simply flashed him a trademark smile after combing out his own hair for what must have been the third time that morning. Squall would never understand Seifer's obsession with his hair and the constant _need _for it to look flawless.

Rolling his eyes, Squall grabbed his comb and ran it through his brown mane, the knots untying themselves and the tangles surrendering to the teeth of the comb. His face contorted in frustration when he met a tangle that would not surrender, however. Brows deeply furrowed, he took the section of hair between his fingers and, with his other hand, attacked the intertwined strands of hair violently with his comb. Next to him, Seifer cocked an eyebrow in confusion, glancing over at Squall quizzically. Squall shot him an annoyed look, then returned to fighting with his stubborn hair. The tangle finally succumbed to the comb, and Squall's lips _barely_ curved up in a triumphant smile for a split second. Seifer, however, had blinked and completely missed it.

"...did you save any hot water?" Squall asked suddenly.

"Beats the hell out of me," Seifer replied coolly, starting to, yet again, comb out his hair carefully. Squall rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't have to be perfect, you know," Squall informed him.

"Squall, I'm hurt," Seifer said with mock sadness in his voice and putting his hand over his heart. "Do you honestly think I'm striving to be perfect?"

"Yes, actually, I do, considering you _just_ combed out your hair," Squall replied. "And who knows how many times you've _already _combed it out."

"Four, to be exact."

Squall nearly groaned out of annoyance. "Well, then. If you'll excuse me, I have to take a shower. I'm sure you can manage maybe ten minutes without staring at yourself."

"Oh, Squall, do you honestly think I'm conceited, too?" Seifer asked, feigning innocence.

"Once again, yes I do, actually," Squall replied, annoyed. "And, _once again_, I have to take a shower. That means out."

"Geeze, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"OUT."

"Fine, fine..."

Seifer cruised out of the bathroom at a purposely (and unbelievably) slow pace. Squall had been half tempted to flat out _push _his vain roommate out of the bathroom and slam the door right in his face, which he would have done had Seifer not been out of the bathroom when Squall conceived the idea.

He _did _slam the door, however.

Annoyed, Squall walked over to the shower and turned on the hot water, the near-steaming liquid cascading from the shower head. He stripped down and stepped into the water, grateful for its warmth. And also grateful for the few moments he had without Seifer.

* * *

"Why are you so grouchy?"

Squall glared at Seifer, then continued gazing out of the passenger window of Seifer's car. "Why do you _think_, Odine?"

"...I don't know, actually," Seifer replied.

Squall rolled his eyes and let out a groan. "Gee, let me think. Oh, let's see here. I failed my junior year last year, and now I'm retaking it when I _should _be a senior. But noooo, Aki just HAD to fail me, didn't he? That damn school just HAD to hold me back, didn't it? And while I'm sitting here thinking about how crappy and miserable my life is, _you're _all happy-go-lucky and rubbing the fact that you're a senior right in my face...!! Oh, and maybe also because I'm still too young to buy my own goddamn cigarettes and I haven't had one in weeks because _someone _smokes all of them!"

"...tell me how you really feel," Seifer said sarcastically.

"Oh, I'm just getting _started_--"

"Squall, shut up already," Seifer shot back, rubbing his temples. "God. You make it sound like everyone is against you."

"Only because it's true," Squall replied.

The blonde let out a groan. "My god, Leonhart, shut _up_."

"_You_ shut up, Almasy."

"I don't have to drive you, you know," Seifer said as-a-matter-of-factly. "You could take the bus with all the little freshmen. And, I don't _have _to let you live with me. I could honestly kick you out whenever I damn well felt like it and make you move back in with your--"

"Don't you _dare _bring him into this," Squall snapped angrily. "And I'd like to see you _try _to kick me out."

"Don't flatter yourself," Seifer said. "It's not like you help pay for rent or anything. Fuck, you don't pay for a goddamn thing, you freeloader."

"It's funny you should mention that," Squall added, feigning thoughtfulness. "Because I'M the one paying for YOUR gas with the money Ellone sends me, which I _could _be using towards paying for more important things. Just by the way."

"Will you shut UP already? I'm ready to kick your sorry ass to curb right now."

"Whatever."

"God, you're such a fucking pessimist, Squall," Seifer said rolling his eyes, annoyed. Why can't you look at all the positives--"

"_What _positives?"

"Well, for one you're--"

"Don't give me that 'you're lucky to be alive' bullshit. It's a load of shit and you know it."

"_You're _a load of shit."

"Not as much as you."

"Get the fuck out of my car."

"No."

"Don't push me, asshole."

"Awww, is little Seify getting his buttons pushed?"

"I'm going to fucking _kill _you."

"Whatever."

It was an absolute miracle that the two hadn't kill each other. Squall's temper had been unusually unmanageable as of late, and Seifer's vanity had been unusually more prominent than before the summer. Squall would always remember that as the second to worst summer of his entire life; the summer Seifer randomly left for Timber for some God awful reason and Squall had to stay with his father for several weeks. That summer ended and the second to worst school year of his life began. He had half-hoped that a semi-truck would slam into the passenger side of Seifer's car and just finish him off. But he was deeply disappointed and somewhat angry when that didn't happen, and they arrived at Balamb High School.

* * *

..»A/N: Some random trivia for you: Mr. Aki is really a teacher from FFVIII! There's a part at the very beginning of the game where you can see him. Once Squall is wearing his Garden uniform before the SeeD exam, if you go upstairs and talk to one of the people standing there, they'll ask to see Squall's gunblade. If you say yes and Squall whips it out, Mr. Aki comes running out of the classroom yelling at Squall to put it away. lol.

..»Now then, a **review or two** would be absolutely fabulous. Go ahead, I know you want to...


	2. Chapter 2: Of All The Things

..»When She Came Along  
..»Chapter 2: Of All The Things  
..»By: ONiONLADi777  
..»Read and Reviewed by Lavender341 (thanks Nikki!)  
..»A/N: Beware, Seifer's mouthing off continues in this chapter.

* * *

Squall made his way through the throngs of students crowding the hallways, his usual hard glare set perfectly in place. Such a facial expression did come in handy, however, when it came making people move out of his way. One glance at his face, and people were gone. It made getting around much easier for Squall. Even if people _were _a bit terrified of him.

He couldn't believe the class he was on his way to now: painting. Of all the stupid electives to be thrown into against his will, the guidance counselors had picked _painting_. Didn't they realize that the junior-turned-er-junior had no artistic ability whatsoever? Or were they really out to get him this year and make his life miserable? Either way, he was stuck in the damn class for at least two weeks. The school counselors initiated a new policy for the school year: _"For the first two weeks of school, the only schedule changes we will be making will be towards leveling class sizes. After two weeks, requests for class changes may be considered."_

It was official. They were out to get him.

Ready to gouge his eyes out, Squall reluctantly opened the door to room 602, painting and ceramics.

Inside, a group of girls were sitting together and complimenting each other on their first-day-of-school wardrobe choices, green Starbucks straws never far from their perfectly glossed lips. When they all saw him, their loud, high-pitched voices quieted to hushed whispers and giggles. Squall had rejected every one of them when they asked him out as sophomores. Resisting the urge to groan audibly at their stupid antics, he kept walking and noticed a different girl he had never seen before sitting alone. All around her, chairs were empty. Squall figured he could get some peace and quiet over by her.

He walked over and sat down diagonally across from her, immediately burying his face in his arms and closing his eyes, trying to catch up on sleep he so desperately wanted. The girl, with short brown hair that had been flipped out on the sides and in the back, watched him quizzically with bright green eyes.

"...I'm Selphie."

He looked up at the source of the voice, who happened to be the girl he had sat near. "Huh?"

"I'm Selphie," she repeated, looking at him intently. "What's your name?"

"...Squall," he replied. Before she could ask another question, he quickly laid his head back down.

"What grade are you in?"

Sighing, he sat up completely, leaning back in his chair and looking at her. "I'm a junior."

"Cool!" she said with a bit of a smile. "I am, too. I just moved here from Trabia."

"Fascinating," Squall said sarcastically.

"Where are you from?"

What was this, twenty questions or something?

"Here. Balamb," he replied.

"Oh. So you've been going here since you were a freshman, then, right?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Hey! During lunch, could you give me a tour? Not like, a FULL tour, just the basics. Where everything is, like the gym, the media center, all that stuff?"

"Maybe."

"Pleeeease? It would help me a lot."

"...fine."

"Great! Thanks! Could I see your schedule?"

What did this girl _want _from him!? He just said he'd give her a tour! Geeze...

He reached into his pocket and withdrew a white piece of paper folded in half a few times and passed it to her. She unfolded it, pulling out her own schedule and setting both down on the table side-by-side. Her eyes quickly flickered from one to the other.

"Hey! We have third period together! And then lunch!"

"Great."

Smiling, she folded his schedule along the previously-creased fold lines and giving it back to him. He returned it to his pocket, where he would make sure to keep it and not let any _other _strange girls he happened to run into get their dirty little hands all over it.

"So, do you do any sports or clubs?" she asked curiously.

"Golf."

"_Really_?! They have a golf team here? At my old school, they didn't have, like, any sports teams. Just basketball, football, soccer, and a couple others. How long have you been doing it?"

"Since I was a freshman. This guy I know got me into it when I was a kid."

If there was one thing in life Squall would never, _ever _acknowledge, it was the fact that he was truly the legitimate son of Laguna Loire, and that the man was truly his father. He would also refuse to accept the fact that it had been Laguna's strange and bizarre choice of "family outings" as he liked to call them had been what got Squall into golfing. He had just _happened _to go with Laguna to that mini-gold course and just _happened _to acquire a liking for it on that particular outing. It had all been one big coincidence. Or so he liked to think.

"That's cool. I think I might try out for the volleyball team or the swim team...or both! If I can, that is. I mean, if I don't have too much homework or something."

Squall nodded once in response. Just before Selphie opened her mouth to speak again, the tardy bell resounded through the now-full room of students. Squall thanked the gods above for finally shutting her up.

"All right, people, take your seats!" Mrs. Adel called out in a shrill voice from behind her thick glasses. "Go! Sit, sit, sit!"

The room was quicky silenced, and everyone who had been standing sat down nervously. Mrs. Adel grabbed her clipboard from her desk and stood at the front of the room in front of her massive easel. Her eyes were cold and unforgiving, looking over the students seated before her critically.

"Raise your hand and say 'here' when I call your name," she instructed, pushing her glasses up father up on her nose only for them to slide back down again. One by one, she called out names on her roll list, marking those who were absent. She was about halfway down the list when the door opened suddenly and someone ran in out of breath, hunched over on their knees and breathing hard.

"Zell Dincht!!" Mrs. Adel screeched angrily. "LATE on the first day of school?! And first period, no less!! This is _not _an auspicious start to a new year, young man!"

"I know, I'm sorry, miss," Zell said, standing up straight and looking up at her. "But you see, there was this _dragon_--"

"Uh-huh. Likely story, Mr. Dincht," Mrs. Adel said, erasing the "X" she had written by his name. She pointed towards the back of the room with her eraser. "Go take a seat next to Mr. Leonhart over there. I'm sure he'd be delighted to inform you of his early arrival to my class."

"Yes, Mrs. Adel," Zell mumbled, jogging over to the seat he had been directed to. He pulled out his chair and was about to sit down when he did a double take at Squall. "WOAH!! I'm sitting next to _you_?!" He quickly wiped his hand off on his pants, then held it out to Squall. Squall simply stared at it, an eyebrow raised quizzically.

"Mr. Dincht, sit down!!" Mrs. Adel nearly screamed, visibly shaking.

"Yes, ma'am."

Zell awkwardly fell into his chair, arranging himself noisily as the crazed art teacher continued calling out the names on her roster. Selphie rolled her eyes from across the table, giving the blonde sitting across from her an annoyed look.

"Zell, you idiot!" she hissed. "You _know _not to make Mrs. Adel mad!!"

"I didn't do anything, I swear!!!" he said, holding his hands up defensively. "She's just insane!!"

"But you make it worse!!" she whispered back. "I'd be insane, too, if I lived next door to _you_!!"

"You _do _live next door to me!"

"No, I moved in across the street!!"

"Same thing!"

"Tilmitt!! Dincht!!" the small teacher shrieked from the front of the room. "_Quiet_!!!"

"Yes, ma'am," they both mumbled.

_'I'm supposed to deal with this __**all year**__...?' _Squall thought miserably.

* * *

On the other side of the Balamb High campus, Seifer was in a particularly good mood. He smiled and winked at the cute girls he passed in the hallway, sending them into fits of embarrassed giggles and making them turn several different shades of red. The blonde whistled to himself as he strolled along, but he stopped suddenly when he nearly ran into someone in front of him with a glare that could rival Squall's.

"Quistis, baby!" Seifer said enthusiastically, pulling the other senior into an awkward hug and kissing her on the cheek. She rolled her eyes and groaned out of disgust. "What the fuck were _you_ up to this summer? Because whatever it was, damn, girl, you are fucking _hot_."

"Cut the crap, Seifer," Quistis said sharply, trying to pry Seifer's arm off from around her shoulders. Unfortunately for her, he had a strong grip and his arm wasn't going anywhere.

"'Cut the crap'?" Seifer asked, placing a hand over his heart like he had been shot. "Quistis. I'm hurt. Is that anyway for a girl to talk to her boyfriend?"

"For the last time, I'm _not_ your girlfriend," she reiterated for the upenteenth time.

Ever since Quistis had the misfortune of meeting the conceited, self-centered blonde known as Seifer as a sophomore along with his grump-of-a-best friend Squall, Seifer had been asking her out even when he was together with another girl. Quistis had long since gotten over her crush on Seifer, and figured Seifer was only bothering her about dating him because he could, and that he wasn't serious. It was rare Seifer was serious with _any _girl, and when he was, he only stayed with her for a couple months as opposed to his usual few weeks or even days.

It was actually _Squall_ that had been the object of her affection for the past year or so. After she started hanging out with him and Seifer more, she found herself developing a crush on the introverted brunette. She knew she didn't have a chance with him, but she couldn't help herself. Since then, she had been trying to be more and more like him, hoping that their "similarities" would make Squall notice her and maybe, just _maybe_, like her back. However...her efforts until this point had been unsuccessful. The possibility of Squall actually starting to _like_ someone was slim at best, and she knew the person that would win Squall's cold, cold heart would be the opposite of her, someone that would remain the way they were instead of changing to impress some guy. Her facade was obvious, she knew, and Squall could see it, too.

And that was the part of Quistis that Seifer couldn't resist.

"Fine. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?"

Now that she could live with.

"By old, do you mean senile?" she countered.

"Geeze, what is it this morning?" Seifer asked. "Is the first day of school really THAT horrible? Everyone's in such a bad mood. Squall's a grump, _you're _a grump--"

"He still lives with you?" Quistis inquired, giving him a strange look. "Didn't he move out of his dad's house, like, two years ago?"

"Yeah, somewhere around there," Seifer answered. "Anyway, Quistis. You. Me. Movie tonight. What do you say?"

"Weren't you seeing that one girl while you were in Timber?" she asked. "Renée, or Rina--"

"Yeah, something like that," he said brushing it off. "She sure was cute, though, whatever her name was. Now stop distracting me. C'mon, you know you want to see that new sorceress movie, the one where the guy is brainwashed by that sorceress chick and--"

"Not exactly my type of movie," she interrupted.

"Okay, what about the one where that army guy is injured and almost died but then he doesn't and goes all over the world making friends and shit like that? Come onnnnnnnn, you _know _you want to see that one."

Quistis glared at him out of the corner of her eye as he started poking her and trying to convince her. After a few seconds, she threw her hands up in frustration and sighed, annoyed, "Fine..."

"WOO-HOO!!!" Seifer cheered, hugging Quistis tightly and kissing her cheek the way he had before, causing Quistis to groan in discomfort.

But the truth was, she didn't really mind Seifer's constant flirting. People were usually cowering in fear of her, or were too intimidated by her overpowering presence to find the nerve to talk to her. Besides Squall and the few others, Seifer was really the only that actually _talked _to her, much less showered her in their complete and undivided attention. In fact, she actually _liked_ it. Not that she would ever tell him that.

"What time?" she asked reluctantly, rolling her eyes.

"I have no fucking idea," Seifer shrugged, hugging her shoulders in the process. "What time do you want, _sweetheart_?"

Quistis nearly threw up her dinner from the night before. While she didn't mind Seifer constantly hanging around and asking her out every chance he could get his grimey hands all over, she was _not _fond of pet names. Even if Seifer, or Squall for that matter, was calling her the most overly-used and most outrageous one in the book.

"What, are we officially together now or something?" Quistis asked, disgusted.

"Only if you want to be, _sweetheart_."

"...stop calling me that."

Seifer sighed in defeat, his shoulders drooping down. "Fine..."

"And we're _not _together, just by the way. Not yet."

"What's this? _'Yet'_?" Seifer asked almost seductively. "It sounds like you actually _like _the idea of us together."

"Don't flatter yourself," she snapped.

* * *

..»A/N: Ah Seifer. You never disappoint.

..»Remember:** Reviews are your friends!**


	3. Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter

..»When She Came Along  
..»Chapter 3: A Chance Encounter  
..»By: ONiONLADi777  
..»Read and Reviewed by Lavender341 (thanks Nikki!)

* * *

With a shaky hand, Squall dragged his wet paintbrush across the thick, manila-colored paper. In the brush's wake was a vibrant and crisp wide line of red. He dipped his brush lightly in the orange paint, leaving behind some red, and painted it right under the red. After rinsing out his brush in his cup of water, he blended the two colors together and was left with a smooth gradient from red to orange.

Overall, the first day of school hadn't been as much of a hellish nightmare as Squall had been picturing. He had been expecting _everyone_ to be on his case about why he was repeating his junior year, why he didn't have a girlfriend yet, why he was still friends with Seifer--the whole shabang. But much to his delight, however, no one had said a word to him about it. Mostly because he hadn't actually _told_ anyone he was still a junior. The assumption that he was a senior was perfectly fine with him.

He had left painting the day before with a headache massive enough to rival Seifer's ego, however. It appeared one of Selphie's many hobbies was_ talking_. Talking about everything. From Homecoming (which was over a month away, mind you) to who she'll meet this year to why Squall was in such a bad mood to what sports she wants to try out for, Selphie went on and _on _about it. And Zell's liking of the same hobby did not help Squall's growing headache. By the time he walked out of first period, he was ready to bash his head in and never hear another human voice ever again. Selphie's in particular.

* * *

She gripped onto the binder she held in her arms tightly, biting her lip nervously. It had been a year since she had gone to an actual high school with both boys _and _girls. Sitting in the passenger seat of her mother's best friend's car, she fidgeted nervously, re-arranging the skirts from her sky-blue dress and re-adjusting her black denim jack even though both did not need fixing of any type. Her nerves were getting to her, she figured.

They wore the same type of clothes in Balamb, right? The stores here were the same as the ones in Galbadia, weren't? She glanced down at her current attire. Surely girls wore dresses in Balamb...?

The car pulled into the parking lot of the school, and her heart started pounding in her chest. Her nails dug instinctively into the plastic covering of her binder, her knuckles white. The woman sitting beside her in the driver's seat chuckled softly, reached over, and touched her shoulder. "It's all right, Rinoa. They're not going to bite you."

Rinoa swallowed hard, her eyes glued to her new environment. "They might."

Rolling her eyes and laughing, the woman continued, "I've already called the school and arranged your transfer. You'll just need to pick up your schedule in the main office. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, Juliana, I'm not _that_ scared," Rinoa replied. Or so she thought.

"All right then," Juliana laughed. "I'll be here at two thirty. You know you can call me, right?"

"Yes," Rinoa answered. She would have given Juliana a sarcastic remark had they not been at the curb in front of the school in the car line.

"Bye, Rinoa," Juliana smiled. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"Bye."

Nervously, Rinoa unbuckled her seat belt and opened her car door, stepping out of the silver vehicle cautiously. She was extremely relieved when heads didn't snap over at her and eyes didn't stare at her coldly, but instead everyone kept talking with their friends or whatever they were doing. She quickly headed inside the school and headed towards a building marked "ADMINISTRATION", with "FRONT OFFICE" stamped over top a set of double doors. Taking a deep breath, she walked inside.

The front office of Balamb High School was a disaster, even on the second day of school after most of the scheduling problems had been solved. Guidance counselors ran to and fro, waving pieces of paper in their hands and shouting students' names above the roar of confusion. Rinoa looked over the huge crowd of people in front of the front desk and sighed, opting to just wait in the non-line like everyone else.

Meanwhile, she glanced around her at all of the different people crammed inside the small office. She hoped desperately that she blended in with all of the beautiful blonde girls wearing their tank tops and short denim skirts. Avoiding staring at the incarnations of beaut surrounding her was difficult, but somehow she managed to keep her eyes moving across the large crowd of people. Much to Rinoa's surprise and delight, one of the beautiful blondes looked over and smiled at her, pointing to her dress and giving her a thumbs up. Rinoa smiled back at her, and relief settled over her. Maybe she _would _fit in here, after all.

It was nearly an eternity before the massive crowd before her dispersed and she was up at the circulation desk, with _another_ massive crowd behind her. The woman behind the desk smiled a tired smile, her eyes warm behind her thick glasses.

"Are you here for your schedule, too?"

Rinoa blinked and realized she was being spoken to. "Oh! Um, yes."

"Last name?"

"Um, Heartilly."

The woman nodded and slid her rolling chair over to the back wall, where file crates upon file crates resided. Quickly, she flipped through the dozens of manila folders and hundreds of pieces of paper, before withdrawing a pink sheet of paper. She wheeled back over to the desk where Rinoa stood, handing the paper to her.

"You won't believe how many transfers we've had in these past two days," the woman laughed, sipping briefly from her coffee. "Welcome to Balamb High School, Miss Heartilly. Your guidance counselor's name is at the bottom, along with her extension. If there are any problems at all, contact her."

Rinoa couldn't help but smile. "Thank you."

She took the paper the woman held out to her and turned around, snaking her way out of the crowd of students. Once she was out of the office, she looked at the paper for the first time since she got it. It was her schedule, of course, listing class names along with the teachers' names and the room number.

602? That number meant nothing to her.

She glanced over at the course title. The bold-faced word "PAINTING I" struck her as odd. Timber High had been an extremely low-budget school, with hardly any electives. Vinzer Deling's Private Academy for Girls had an array of electives as dizzying as the name of the school itself, with class titles so cryptic it would have taken a handful of Dr. Odine clones along with the madman himself to even begin to decipher what the class was even about. Seeing the simple word "PAINTING" was strange to Rinoa, but relieving at the same time. The wide variety of electives of that stupid "academy for girls" along with the simplicity of Timber High's class titles. This she could live with.

But back to square one. Just where in the world was room 602?

Had a map been provided for her, she could have managed to find it on her own. But she figured that Balamb High was so monstrously huge that condensing its every room and hallway would have been an all-nighter the faculty didn't have time for.

They weren't _all_ devils here, were they? Surely she could ask someone for help.

Glancing around, she decided on the same girl that had silently complemented Rinoa on her dress. Nervously, Rinoa drifted over to her and her goregous friends. In a quiet, timid voice, she said, "Um...excuse me..."

Flipping her hair over her shoulder, the girl turned around. "Yes?"

"Uh, I just transferred here. Could you tell me where..." Rinoa glanced at her schedule, then looked back up at the girl. "...room 602 is?"

The blonde smiled brightly and said, "Oh, sure! See that building over on the right? The smaller one?"

Rinoa looked in the direction the girl was pointing in. Indeed, there was two-story building on their right, and it was considerably smaller than the one residing next to it. "Yes."

"602 is in there," the girl continued. "It's downstairs, in the first hallway. First room on the left."

"Okay, thank you so much!" Rinoa said with a warm smile, walking off quickly after the girl smiled back at her. Getting her schedule took so long, Rinoa must have been late. She supposed that asking for a pass would have been a good idea, but then again maybe teachers were expecting late students without passes. Timber High had been so small, there were hardly any transfers, and that stupid girls academy _never_ accepted transfer students unless their parents were richer than the school itself, which was extremely rare. Unfortunately for Rinoa, that was her father.

She approached the building she had been directed to, and figured it was the 600 building, since the signs above the double doors leading into the hallways were all 600 numbers. Looking between the two hallways, she went with the one on the left. Taking a deep breath, she began walking towards the brightly-lit hallway.

* * *

_'Shut up, shut up, shut up.'_

Squall had buried his face in his arms the way he had the day before when he first walked into the huge art room not soon after finishing his "painting", if that's what it could be called. His head throbbed horribly, partly due to the bright lights in the room. But it was mostly due to Selphie and Zell screaming at each other the way they had done _all day yesterday_, and _all day today_.

He _had_ to get out of this class. If not to spare himself from inevitable headaches, to spare his sanity.

First period was considerably longer than the rest of the day. Perhaps it was Squall's tiredness combined with his sheer unmotivation, or maybe it was just the fact he was stuck with Lady Never-Shuts-Up and Sir Screams-A-Lot. Maybe it was all three combined.

He had tried (in vain) to block out their irrelevant conversations by imagining quadratic functions in his head and solving them. When that didn't work, he went with solving imaginary systems of linear equations. If there was one thing Squall could honestly say was bearable at the prison he called Balamb High School, it was math class. Any math class. It didn't matter. Math came naturally to Squall, and it was the only class he ever had an "A" in and actually did homework for. He liked math. It was really the only worthwhile thing in his life, but even then, numbers and letters provided only so much comfort. It was because he had been taking two AP math classes a day for the past three years that he could hold his spot on the golf team. The ridiculous rule stating you needed at least a 2.0 GPA to participate in sports had always bothered him.

Squall's head snapped up at the sound of the bell resounding throughout the room. Immediately, he grabbed his backpack and slung it over his left shoulder, nearly dashing out of the classroom to escape Selphie and Zell's screaming good-bye's.

Where ever the next pole was, Squall was going to find it. And bang his head against it as hard as he could. Repeatedly. But before that, he was probably going to strangle the next person to so much as _think _about talking to him.

In his haste and rage, he hadn't noticed a girl looking down at an armful of books and a piece of paper walking at an equally fast pace in the opposite direction. The two crashed right into each other, the girl's books and binders clattering to the ground and her schedule flying through the air until it landed on the floor as well. She gasped, surprised, and immediately began grabbing her things from off the floor.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed as she hurriedly grabbed her books and began slamming them shut.

Squall, unsure of what to do in such a situation, was ready to walk away and let his anger get the best of him. As he studied the girl hastily gathering her scattered belongings from off the floor, something inside of him sparked. It was a faintly familiar feeling, one hadn't felt in many, many years. Without really thinking about it, without really realizing it, Squall crouched down near her and began helping her gather her books, binders, papers, and all of the other items that had rained down from their collision.

"I-I was in a hurry to get to class, and--" The girl stopped short when she went to reach for a binder, only to discover it was no longer there. She looked up, and was surprised to see the boy she collided with holding it out to her. She smiled at him and took it from him, barely whispering, "Thank you..."

She stood up, and arranged her various items in her arms, shoving blank sheets of notebook paper here and there. Squall stood up in front of her, watching her silently as she frantically put all of her binders on top of her books. The girl looked up at him and smiled a brilliant smile, flashing a set of pearly white teeth.

Suddenly, they both forgot how to breathe.

Squall had seen his fair share of pretty girls at Balamb High, and definitely perfect smiles. But he had _never_ seen anyone like this before. Her ivory skin contrasted sharply against her dark hair and brown eyes that seemed to glow golden. That perfect smile of hers touched the corners of her eyes ever so slightly, just enough to make her entire face light up. He opened his mouth to say you're welcome to her, but no words came out. He had forgotten how to speak, too.

Luckily for him, she did first. She held out her hand, her smile still set perfectly in place, and said in a warm, musical voice, "I'm Rinoa."

Blinking a few times and coming back to reality, Squall awkwardly placed his hand in hers and shook it lightly. Her skin was the smoothest silk, warmer than the sun on a chilly, windy day. It was in this simple, warm contact Squall forgot about everything else. His throbbing headache disappeared, his anger towards everyone and everything in general faded away, and all he could remember was standing here, shaking this girl's hand that could easily work miracles.

Wait...his name. He needed to know his name. Now what was it again? Sam? Stewart? ...Sora? Did it even begin with an "S"?

"...Squall."

Ah, yes. That was it.

She released his hand and let is drop back by her side. A second later, Squall realized she had let go and quickly dropped his hand, also. Although the source of heat was gone, his fingers tingled wildly with the warmth from her soft hand.

Rinoa looked around at the throngs of students moving about, before turning back to Squall. Her eyes were worried as she asked him, "...is first period over?"

First period...uh...right! First period.

"Uh, y-yeah. It just ended."

"Oh..." Rinoa sighed, looking at her schedule. "At least I'll make it to second period."

And with that, she laughed. A soft chuckle, really, that had escaped her throat as she smiled. But it was a _wonderful_ laugh, one that sounded like harmonious music

But it was a _wonderful _laugh, one that made Squall wonder if he had died on his way out of painting and gone to heaven to hear this beautiful, quiet laugh. He realized he was still on Earth, and somehow this...this _angel_ existed there with him when the warning bell rang.

"I guess that must be the warning bell," Rinoa said with another smile. "I should get going...i-it was nice meeting you, Squall."

"...y-yeah. You, too."

"Maybe I'll see you around or at lunch or something," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. She smiled again and waved. "Bye, Squall."

"B-Bye," he stammered, turning around quickly after she had walked past him. He watched her gracefully glide down the crowded hall, until her shape was obscured from view and he could no longer see her.

* * *

..»A/N: And so they meet...

..»Remember:** Reviews are your friends!**


	4. Chapter 4: Of Flying Volleyballs

..»When She Came Along  
..»Chapter 4: Of Flying Volleyballs and Splattering Paintbrushes  
..»By: ONiONLADi777  
..»Read and Reviewed by Lavender341 (thanks Nikki!)  
..»A/N: This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has deemed this story worthy of reviewing :)

* * *

"So, if _h _is a function having derivatives of all orders for _x_ is greater than zero, then the first-degree Taylor polynomial for _h_ when _x_ equals two is..."

For all Squall knew, his AP Calculus BC teacher could have been speaking Ancient Galbadian. If such a language even existed.

He wasn't quite sure of how he made it to second period; he had been in a haze, thinking about the pretty girl he had collided with in the hallway about an hour ago. He was pretty sure he had crashed into at least ten other people in his hazy carelessness, and pretty sure they had all been ready to punch the crap out of him as a result of his discourtesy. It was rather amazing, actually, that he had walked into the right classroom and sat in the right seat. At least...he _thought _he was in the right room and right seat. No one had told him otherwise.

The bell ending second period rang. Squall nearly jumped and was startled out of his daydreaming. His mind still hazy and filled with her musical voice, he somehow managed to put his notes and binder into his backpack.

He daydreamed his way through the throngs of students barring his path. By some miracle, he made it to third period. It was only when he smelled the seemingly familiar smell of sweat from the men's locker room that he woke up from his dream and realized he was in gym. With a sigh and a groan, he changed into his gym clothes. He was nearly pushed over when Zell came jogging over, punching and kicking at imaginary enemies. Zell's fist collided with his face, and he glared at him dark enough to kill him.

"O-Oh my God!!" Zell nearly screamed. He got down on his knees and put his hands together as if he were praying, bowing his head. "Squall, I'm so sorry!!! P-Please don't kill me!!"

Squall growled menacingly and hissed, "Get the fuck away from me."

Zell nodded and scrambled to his feet, nearly tripping the junior he was worshiping like a god to and knocking him the ground. He felt Squall's eyes glaring lasers into the back of his head and immediately ran from the scene. With a loud screech that was almost a scream, Squall stormed out angrily from the locker room.

In a raging huff, he barraged into the gym where his teacher and some of his class was waiting and stretching. Why in the name of Galbadia the gym teachers had them dress out on the second day of school was beyond him. Didn't they usually provide a week for this sort of thing? He decided to let it go and just go along with whatever he was told to do. Extremely reluctantly, he somehow got himself involved in a game of volleyball with Zell (whom he was still angry at and wanted to kill for punching him in the face while he was being utterly obnoxious), an all guys team against an all girls team. They had rotated positions twice, putting Squall in the left front right by the net. His ice blue eyes met a pair of warm brown eyes, his heart and movements stopping completely.

Rinoa was gazing back at him.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he watched her as she jumped at an approaching volleyball and spiked it directly over the net. The next thing he knew he was colliding backwards, head first, with the floor.

He blinked a few times, trying to realize what happened. He blinked again, and suddenly she was hovering over him, her eyes wide and surprised. She was close to him now, close enough for him to get a waft of her rosy-vanilla scent. She was studying his face carefully, her eyes fixed on the bright red shape of the volleyball she had hit him with on his forehead. Her voice brought him back to reality and broke his mesmerized stare.

"Oh my God!! I'm so sorry!! A-are you okay?!"

He nodded, even if it felt like he had been beated over the head with a steel bat.

She helped him sit up, the two now surrounded by a circle of shocked students and P.E. teachers. He watched her as she bit her lip and looked over at one of the teachers crouching beside him and examining his forehead. She asked if it was serious, receiving an unsure reply from the teacher.

Squall could have honestly cared less.

After a conversation between the girl and the teacher, one that Squall barely understood in his haze, it was decided that she would escort him to the clinic. Rinoa helped him to his feet, offering him the same hand she had when they met. He took it, his entire body again awakened by its warmth. He stood up and almost gasped when her face was right in front of his.

He felt his heart _pounding_ as he walked with her out of the gym towards the clinic. He felt himself sweating and his stomach turning nervously and so many other things he hadn't felt in years.

He felt so _alive_.

* * *

The nurse looked up from her paperwork in surprise when Squall and Rinoa entered, and asked, "My goodness, what in the world happened here?"

"I, uh, I kinda hit him in the head with a volleyball..." Rinoa replied, helping Squall over to a vacant chair across the room. The nurse chuckled to herself and opened a small freezer underneath her desk to retrieve a bag of ice. She handed it to Rinoa, who immediately affixed it to the swollen lump forming on Squall's forehead. He let out a soft laugh and took it from her, their fingers brushing together briefly, and held it against his forehead. She sat down next to him, still looking at the ice pack covering his swelling forehead. She felt his eyes on her, watching her as she nervously gripped onto the hem of her borrowed shirt and kicked the floor with her heel. Several minutes later, she placed her hand over his and moved the ice pack from his forehead. She gasped quietly when she saw that the swelling had worsened, and immediately replaced the ice pack.

"Oh my God," she repeated, holding onto his hand still. He didn't really mind. "I'm so sorry, Squall..."

"It's okay..." he looked at her again, and felt himself smiling very, _very_ softly. "...Rinoa."

She smiled back at him, revealing her perfect teeth and lighting up her entire face. He felt his heart swelling faster than his head.

Looking at her, getting lost in her eyes and her smile, Squall started to begin to wonder what he was feeling deep in his shell of a heart. His spirits lifted and he was _happy_ when she smiled, when she laughed and held the ice pack with two hands to stop it from dripping, when she simply looked him in the eyes and didn't look away. He then wondered what was wrong with him and how he could be so stupid, considering he had just met her a little over an hour ago. He studied her face carefully, watching her cheeks as she smiled and her eyes as she laughed.

And then he figured it out.

She was almost identical to his mother.

* * *

Squall rolled over in bed and sighed. He stared at the ceiling, realizing his insomnia had returned. But this time was very different than last time.

_Rinoa..._

She had refused to leave his mind alone. All day, he had been thinking about her, her pretty smile and warm brown eyes that drew him in like a moth to a flame, her kindness and concern after she had konked him on the head with a volleyball. She wasn't like anyone he had ever known. Most people (like Selphie) would have mumbled some sort of forced apology after sending them barreling to the ground as a result of a violent volleyball strike and then been on their merry way. But Rinoa had gone so far as to hold an ice pack against his head...

He couldn't believe himself; in less than twenty-four hours of knowing somone, he had gone completely head-over-heels for her. He knew nothing about her. And somehow, that didn't seem to matter at all.

He wondered briefly if this was what it was like to be a normal, happy person. To be someone that wasn't completely irrational and didn't blow everything out of proportion and actually thought for once. His mind would wander in one direction or another only to lead back to her and her pretty smile.

His thoughts slowly quieted and he gradually drifted into sleep, her name on his lips and her smile in his eyes.

It was the first night he slept through in long, long time.

* * *

Squall sighed, flicking a stray piece of hair out of his eyes. His head throbbed horribly as Selphie and Zell argued about _God knows what_ for the third day in a row. Or was it the fourth day in a row? Squall honestly had no idea anymore.

The days had been running together, similar to the way his over-watered paints were running together on the paper in front of him. All of the miserable days of the summer had run together in one horrible unending nightmare, one that usually began and ended with several bottles of some type of alcohol. Eventually he'd pass out and wake up at three in the morning, smoke a handful of cigarettes, and then fall back asleep as the sun came up. The start of school had brought that miserable cycle to an end, but the days still felt like one. He was still dead tired the way he always had been over the summer (when he was actually awake and sober), and couldn't find anything about being in school that was the slightest bit better than the past two months had been.

The door at the far end of the room opened and someone stepped inside. Their footsteps grew louder as they approached, paused hesitantly, then continued on. The crazed art teacher looked up from her plethora of detention slips at the newcomer, and the smile on her face could be heard in her unusual congenial greeting. Squall's ears twitched and he looked up when he heard a familiar musical voice above the loud, mindless chatter of the classroom. And he forgot how to breathe for the second time in his life.

Standing in front of Mrs. Adel's desk was the girl he had collided with the day before, and the girl that had beat his head in with a volleyball.

_Rinoa._

His lips parted in surprise and he couldn't make himself look away. He watched her as she flipped her long, dark hair over her shoulder and handed Mrs. Adel her schedule. She looked around the room at her new surroundings, her eyes falling on various posters of famous works of art. Squall didn't quite comphrehend what was happening as Mrs. Adel pointed to the empty seat next to him, and she looked over at him, smiling softly with surprise.

And thus all of the pieces were set in place.

She took the schedule she was proffered, and, gripping onto her binders with her nails nervously, walked over to where Squall was sitting. Her smile was even more dazzling today than it had been the day before. She waved softly, then covered her mouth with her hand in surprise when she saw the volleyball-shaped bruise forming on Squall's forehead. His heart was pounding like lightning in his chest as she sat down next to him, brushing the hair away from his forehead so she could examine him, and said nervously, "W-Wow...I really got you good yesterday, didn't I?"

All Squall could think to do was nod. "Y-Yeah...but, i-it doesn't hurt as much now..."

Rinoa smiled a warm, radiant smile. "That's good."

Squall could feel the strangely familiar feeling of a smile tugging very softly at the corners of his lips and nodded.

Both were completely oblivious to the wide-eyed stares they were receiving from Selphie and Zell.


	5. Chapter 5: A Small World

..»When She Came Along  
..»Chapter 5: A Small World  
..»By: ONiONLADi777  
..»Read and Reviewed by Lavender341 (thanks Nikki!)  
..»A/N: This chapter is dedicated to everyone who has deemed this story worthy of reviewing :)

* * *

"Hello! Squall! Are you even _listening_?!"

Squall blinked and looked over at Selphie, who had been going on for the past ten minutes about how much she hated algebra and Mr. Valentine and those creepy red eyes of his and God knows what else, realizing he had been zoning out. She stood before him with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows knitted together in a furious glare, demanding his attention. Unsure of what else to do, Squall replied, "Um...sure?"

Selphie half-groaned, half-screeched, and stormed over to the other side of the lunch table where Zell was finishing off his third hot dog and fourth soda. Quistis raised an eyebrow at the bottomless pit sitting across from her while Seifer and said bottomless pit were discussing, of all things, food (while eating, no less). She glanced over at Squall, noticing how he appeared to be more spacey than usual. Even though he was sitting right next to her, he felt miles away, as if in a completely different world. Part of her considered asking Squall what was distracting him so, in an attempt to get closer to the boy she had been crushing on for the past year, but decided against it.

It was by strange circumstances the five sitting at the lunch table under the oak tree on the patio had come together; Squall had, of course, met Selphie and Zell in painting. Zell had met Seifer in Martial Arts III, their overlapping second period, while Selphie had met Quistis in yearbook, Selphie a first-year and Quistis the student assistant. That particular day, Seifer and Zell, oddly enough, had meandered over together to where Squall was sitting at he and Seifer's usual table. Quistis had later followed and sat in between Squall and Seifer. After receiving a poor grade on a review test, Selphie had come barreling through the throngs of students mingling about on the patio and plomped down next to Squall, ranting and raving until she realized he wasn't even listening.

And so here it was they presently found themselves.

It was very strange to Squall to see two different worlds colliding at one lunch table. He hadn't expected Quistis and Selphie to get along in the least; they were complete opposites, at least they were now. Several years ago, it would have been expected, before Quistis withdrew from the world for no apparent reason. He _especially_ hadn't been expecting Zell and Seifer to even been able to tolerate each other, considering that Squall, for the most part, wanted to rip out Zell's trachea and floss his teeth with it.

Squall let out a sigh and looked around at the groups of students congregating and eating and gossiping. All of them were blurred together in his tired, slightly-hungover state.

But one person stood out as she emerged.

Rinoa had spotted him from across the patio and was walking towards his table, her eyes never once leaving his and her smile never fading. She half-walked, half skipped over to him, waving and smiling and beautiful. He was suddenly awakened from his zombie-like mentality and felt himself softly smiling back at her.

His voice was an octave more cheerful than he had expected as he called out to her, "Hey, Rinoa."

"Hi, Squall," she replied, still smiling. At the other end of the table, Seifer perked up and gasped when he laid eyes on her. He stood up, a huge smile spreading across his face. "Rinoa!"

She turned at the sound of her name, gasping in disbelief when she saw Seifer. "Oh my gosh, _Seifer_!" The two embraced tightly, Rinoa laughing as she hugged him. Seifer ruffled her hair softly, his eyes studying her carefully as if she was a figment of his imagination. "Rinoa, what in the fucking _world_ are you doing here?"

"I moved here, three days ago," she replied, flipping her long, dark hair over her shoulder. "But I honestly had no idea I'd find _you _here! So you and Squall know each other?"

Seifer's smile grew soft and he nodded, replying, "Yeah, me and Squall go way back. As in three years old, way back."

"Wow, really?" she asked, looking from Seifer to Squall. Squall nodded and replied, "Yeah, we've been stuck together a long time."

She laughed a marvelous laugh, making Squall's hands sweat, and murmured, "What a small world."

"Only getting smaller," Seifer added, chuckling to himself. "Hey, you should sit with us! Sit next to your BFF Squall over there. He won't bite, though he certainly looks like it." Rinoa nodded and walked around the table to the empty seat beside Squall. He could have sworn his heart skipped a thousand beats as she sat down next to him, her long hair brushing against his arm briefly.

Selphie and Zell gaped at Rinoa, then each other. Selphie grabbed Zell by the collar or shirt, Zell scrambling to his feet as Selphie dragged him away. Seifer raised an eyebrow, confused, then asked Squall, "What the fuck is their problem?"

Squall shrugged. He was far too distracted by the pretty girl next to him to even care.

Seifer and Rinoa began chatting excitedly about their summer in Timber, what a coincidence it was that they both ended up at Balamb High School, etc; etc; etc. Squall, struggling to resist the urge to stare at Rinoa googley-eyed like a five-year-old, distracted himself by looking around the patio and the school campus beyond. As his eyes wandered, they fell upon Quistis, whose eyes burned angrily as they glared at Rinoa.

It all made sense to him now.

Over the summer, Seifer had taken a vacation to Timber with those pesky sophomores Fuujin and Raijin, leaving Squall and Quistis to their own devices for almost a month. Squall honestly had no idea why Seifer went to Timber, of all places; it rained all the time, it was the murder capital of Galbadia, and it was just generally a miserable place. When Seifer had returned, he was dazed and in love with some girl whose name he couldn't even remember. That girl, it was apparent now, was Rinoa. And as Seifer's current love interest, even if they weren't official yet, Quistis was clearly jealous.

Squall suddenly felt disillusioned.

But that didn't stop his pounding heart.

* * *

"Oww! Selphie, would you _let go_!?! I actually ENJOY having circulation in my neck!"

Selphie groaned/screeched at him and released her iron grip on his shirt. Zell rubbed his neck where Selphie had been gripping onto his collar, causing chaffing and reddness. She rolled her eyes as he whined, then punched his arm and demanded that he listen.

"Zell, _shut up_ and listen!!"

"Ow!! Okay, geez, just stop _hurting _me!"

Selphie rolled her eyes yet again. "Fine, crybaby. Okay, Zell, listen to me. Did you see the look on Squall's face this morning in first period when she walked in and sat next to him?"

"Um...I guess? Ow!" He rubbed the back of his head where Selphie had smacked him. She glared at him dark enough to kill him, her eyebrows knitted together furiously. "Zell, he was _smiling_! He looked happy! Just now, too! Whoever this 'Rinoa' girl is, she sure knows how to make Squall _not_ want to kill us all."

"Hmm...yeah, I guess you're right," Zell replied, thinking. "Do you think...maybe...Squall _likes_ her?"

"Maybe," Selphie replied. "I don't know, it's hard to say since we just met them both."

Zell punched his fist against his palm. "We have to get them together."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Tch, I have no idea!!! Geez, man, calm down!!"

"I'm not the one yelling, Zell! Hmm, maybe we could talk to Seifer? He knows Squall better than anyone. And he seems to know Rinoa, too," Selphie said, peering around the corner of the building at the patio where Squall was staring at Rinoa out of the corner of his eye. "Squall looks so _happy_ next to her. He seems so miserable the rest of the time...we have to get them together."

"Hey! Isn't that what I said?"

"Oh please, I had the idea way before you did."

"Tch! Fine...whatever."

* * *

The lunch bell was minutes from ringing, signaling the beginning of fifth period. Rinoa was standing by a water fountain filling up her water bottle, absorbing the still-new environment around her. She glanced around the bustling patio, amazed that students were allowed to eat outside. It was an abnormality to her, since it rained too much in Timber for outside lunch and in Deling City the private girl's school didn't allow their "young ladies" to eat outside in public. She felt good here, she felt natural.

She continued to look around, and her eyes landed on Squall.

He was sitting with his hands stuffed the pockets of his black jacket, his eyes downcast at the table in front of him. Nearby, Selphie and Zell were still screaming at each other over God knows what, and Quistis was looking over formulas in her physics textbook. She wondered where Seifer had disappeared to, as he was missing from the lunch table under the large oak tree.

"So, Rinoa."

The brunette jumped and turned around, surprised to see Seifer leaning against the wall next to the water fountain. She breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "Oh, it's you Seifer. You scared me."

Seifer chuckled to himself, running his fingers through his hair. He looked back at her, his eyes suddenly very serious, but the smile still on his face. "So, Rinoa. How do you know Squall?"

_Squall_...

The very mention of his name made her knees weak. She could feel her ears turning red and her heart pounding and so many other things she knew shouldn't have been happening over someone she had just met and barely knew, especially someone who seemed so disinterested and disconnected with her. Maintaining her composure, she screwed the cap onto her water bottle and replied casually, "Oh, he's in my first period. And I have gym with him. I kind of ran into him the hall and then nearly knocked him out with a volleyball yesterday..."

Seifer laughed. "You _hit_ him with a volleyball? That's actually pretty funny. Maybe it knocked some sense into him." Rinoa laughed along with him, then asked, "Why do you ask?" The blonde shrugged and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. "Just curious."

Unbeknownst to Rinoa, a plan was forming in Seifer's head.

Rinoa was about to ask what had aroused Seifer's curiosity so, but was cut off by the bell ringing loudly over the intercom. Seifer smiled at her and gave her a quick hug, whispering, "It's really good to see you again, Rinoa."

She smiled back at him, and in a instant, he was gone. Turning around, she looked around for Squall, and felt her heart stop when she saw him staring back at her. She felt herself smiling and waving at him without really thinking about it. Her knees went weak when he smiled very, very softly and he waved back.

Waiting with Quistis near a stairwell, Seifer smiled to himself.


	6. Chapter 6: Not So Bad

..»When She Came Along  
..»Chapter 6: Not So Bad  
..»By: ONiONLADi777  
..»Read and Reviewed by Lavender341 (thanks Nikki!)  
..»A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Cerulean Crystal, who mistakeningly read this story in a public library. I'll insert as much humor as possible just for you :)

* * *

Squall sat up in bed suddenly, his entire body drenched in sweat, his mind racing wildly. Still ringing in his ears was the squealing of tires, the smashing of a front-end collision, his screaming and sobbing and protesting, Seifer's voice screaming in the brunette's ear with his arms pinned around his best friend, preventing him from racing forward into the flames.

How the flames burned behind his eyes.

He wiped the tears from his eyes and his cheeks, though that did not stop him from crying. He remained there in the darkness as his hiccups and sobs subsided, the sweat on his forehead and hair drying and evaporating. It had been almost five years since that day. Every once in a while, the nightmare returned to him in his sleep. He reached up and grazed his fingers over the smooth diagonal scar between his eyes. While the nightmare always faded from his memory relatively quickly, the scar would forever be a reminder of that day...of the things he lost that day.

His breath still coming in gasps, he slowly laid back down against the mattress and pillow. He rolled over on his side and squeezed his eyes shut. The flames still burned in the pitch-black darkness, yellow and orange and red exploding from the blackness. The sounds and screams of that day echoed in his ears, refusing to be silenced. These demons had plagued him for over four years, demons that prevented him from forgetting, demons that reminded him of the pain everyday.

He buried his face in his pillow, trying to force himself to think of something other than the screams and the flames and the blood.

His hand went wandering, wandering into his side-table drawer, fumbling for the blue Galbadian army pocketknife in the darkness. His shaking fingers gripped it tightly and withdrew it. Still gripped tightly in his fist, he moved the knife under his pillow and he remained there motionless, still sniffling and crying and shaking.

He mentally went through everything going on in his life. Most of it only made him feel even more miserable, as all of it related back to that day. Him living here with Seifer, him being miserable and angry at his life and everything in it, it all tied back to the events of that awful, nightmarish day. Groaning to himself, he rolled over in bed, his pillow still hugged tightly around his face. He instead went to school, which was a small fraction of a step better than sitting around drinking or smoking or sulking at Seifer's. The thought of Zell made him cringe. Selphie just induced a major headache bordering on a migraine. Quistis was all right, she wasn't terrible, but she also wasn't fantastic, either. Seifer, well, he was just Seifer. And Rinoa--

Rinoa.

_Rinoa..._

The flames were extinguished. The screams were silenced. And the blood had disappeared. All that remained was a gentle sort of calm, washing over him in soft waves.

His heart was pounding. He forgot how to breathe. A thin layer of sweat beaded over his forehead and hands. But this was a good kind...a kind that didn't remind him of death; a kind that almost made him _happy_.

He didn't know what it was exactly that Rinoa evoked in him. He wasn't familiar with it in the least bit, this strange magnetic attraction to her and that odd sort of peacefulness that settled over him whenever she was around. They had just met yesterday, as a result of two accidents, the first his fault and the second hers. There were so many voices inside his head, voices of the demons that plagued him at night, telling him he was imagining everything he thought he was feeling, that because their meeting occurred as a result of an accident many more accidents would be produced if they pursued each other. Even more foreign to him was the want to go after her, to capture her before she flew away and to keep that feeling within him forever. He didn't know if what he was feeling was right or wrong, but his shadow of a heart that was still pounding somewhere inside him told him it was where he needed to be. That actually _living_ for the first time in almost five years was what he needed if he ever wanted a chance at a normal life again. And that Rinoa was the key to making all of that happen.

He blinked, continuing to stare at the ceiling through the darkness.

The fingers that had been gripping onto the pocketknife went weak. So weak that the knife slipped from his grasp and onto the floor behind his bed.

Squall suddenly felt tired. He felt sleep beckoning to him, beckoning in a soft voice that sounded strangely similar to Rinoa's. The muscles in his entire body relaxed and he felt himself falling back to sleep. As he slipped into unconciousness, his heart quickened as Rinoa smiled at him behind his pained eyes.

* * *

Rinoa yanked the covers back over her head when the sunlight pierced her bedroom window and shined brightly in her eyes. She allowed herself to drift in and out of conciousness, trying to get in as much sleep as she could before it was time for her to get ready for school. The thought of going made her want to lay here in bed all day; her teachers were insane, and she already had a huge pile of homework and had only been at Balamb for two days. She mentally ran through her day, beginning with first period, beginning with Squall-

-and suddenly school didn't seem so bad.

She didn't know the first thing about Squall; just that he wore a lot of dark colors and long sleeves and anything to cover his arms. He was quiet, not necessarily shy, and didn't really talk to anyone much, or so Rinoa had observed. In between his eyes was a long diagonal scar, one that Rinoa had wanted to ask him about, but was too scared to do so. She was intimidated by him, by the enigmatic and serious aura that surrounded him, by his strong and handsome face that, scar or no scar, would have instantly attracted _anyone_, by his stormy ice blue eyes that challenged the blue of the ocean and the sky.

She had heard his voice maybe five times in the two days she had known him; she had heard Selphie's voice, however, at least ten times that in a single lunch period. He appeared to be in a completely different world, separated from reality and lost in whatever thoughts that were swirling around in his head. His eyes were distant and almost lost, but _Hyne_ were they beautiful; beautiful and mysterious and impossible to read. Rinoa had wondered briefly what it was he thought about so many worlds away; that is, until Selphie's voice brought her back to reality.

Her alarm clock on her nightstand interrupted her daydreaming of the silent dark-haired man she was, for unfathomable reasons, very attracted to. Sitting up reluctantly, she reached over and shut the alarm off. She stood up and walked over to her window, squinting as she looked out into the sunlight of the early morning as it peaked over the rooftops and treetops. With an embarrassed smile, she immediately looked away when she realized she was imagining what the sunlight would look like shining in Squall's eyes.

And then there was the minor complication of Seifer.

It really shouldn't have mattered, right? That's what she wanted to believe. She and Seifer, it had only been a summer fling. There was no seriousness involved whatsoever. Seifer just so happened to stroll into her life one warm summer evening and swept her off her feet (in more ways than one) and dazzled her and all sorts of other things. Seifer just so happened to fill the void that had formed in her heart after she had moved _again_. She didn't _purposely_ choose Balamb because he had mentioned it in an off-handed comment when they first met; she didn't _follow_ him, because she certainly wasn't still _madly_ in love with him, after almost a month of no contact (until yesterday, of course).

...right?

Right, she decided. Seifer had obviously moved on; the beautiful blonde girl he had sat next to at lunch yesterday was, presumably, his girlfriend, judging by the raging glares of jealousy that had been directed straight at her. Rinoa couldn't _possibly_ still have feelings for Seifer. No, she, too, had moved on. Especially now that Squall had so mysteriously and so suddenly stumbled into her life (and the path of her volleyball) and looked just as lost and alone and confused as she was.

* * *

Rinoa glared at her paper in frustration. The pencil she held in her right hand was being subjected to stress relief and thus was beginning to crack. She read over the algebraic equation for what must have been the hundreth time, the solution still eluding her. Next to her, Squall jumped when she screeched angrily and snapped her pencil clear in half. Across the table, Selphie's jaw dropped and Zell copied her by breaking a pencil of his own. The other end went flying into Selphie's face, earning Zell an angry screaming fit and a back-handed slap across the face.

Squall looked over at the girl beside him, curious, with one eyebrow raised. Rinoa looked up at what remained of her pencil, only to be more frustrated and screech angrily again. Throwing the remnant over her shoulder, she resumed scrutinizing the problem on the worksheet she had been given yesterday (but had failed to complete as a result of daydreaming about a certain dark-haired someone). Squall bit his lip and muffled the strange noise that had tried to escape his mouth, a noise that sounded (and felt) awfully like _laughter_.

He felt Rinoa's eyes on him, whether she was glaring or smiling or laughing herself, however, he did not know. Without looking at her, he reached over and took the paper from her. Ignoring her screeches of protest and the shocked, wide-eyed looks he was receiving from Selphie and Zell across the table, Squall studied the problem Rinoa had murdered her pencil over.

Rinoa's heart malfunctioned as Squall looked over at her and then set her paper back down in front of her. He pointed to the first term of the equation she had been stuck on (rather, just not _trying_) and, much to her surprise, said, "Here. You can use the distributive property. That would remove the parentheses and make this 2_x_ and that 16, so you can combine like terms and add the negative coefficient to the right side of the equation and finish solving."

The other three stared at him blankly.

Zell leaned over to Selphie and whispered, "Um...what did he say?" Selphie shrugged.

"...oh my God," Rinoa said. She blinked, still staring at him. "Oh my God! You _understand_ this!" Her heart swelled and pounded when he smiled very, _very_ softly and nodded. Rinoa continued to stare at him, her brain trying to figure out how to convey in words what she wanted of him. "You...you can tutor me! My teacher's crazy and doesn't make any sense, but, but...you _do_! Oh my God, would you? Pleeaase?"

He couldn't think. His lungs broke down. And his heart stopped working. Rinoa's warm golden-brown eyes looked at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.

This was it. She was offering him everything. She had placed his entire life and future and happiness on a golden platter before him and all he had to do was reach out and take it. By accepting he could be _happy_ again; he could live and breathe and never regret. He could forgive and let go and truly smile again from the bottom of his heart; he just had to say _yes_ and it all would be his.

He just didn't know it yet.

But _Hyne damn it_, she was so pretty.

"...sure."

He jumped when she let out a loud cheer of excitement. She jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around him in a tight hug, a wide smile still on her face. Squall was sure he was blushing; the heat in his cheeks couldn't have been explained by anything else. His brain short-circuited and he couldn't breathe. His nose was filled with the roses and vanilla he had smelled two days ago, when she was helping him up after pounding the daylights out of his head with a volleyball.

She had sat back down, still jabbering to herself about how she wouldn't fail math for the first time since seventh grade and this and that and everything else, but the warm feeling she had left on Squall remained. He couldn't make himself move or breathe or think. He could only stare. Somewhere inside of him, Squall knew this year wouldn't be so bad.

Selphie looked over at Zell. Zell looked over at Selphie.

They smiled to each other.

* * *

"She got him to be her _math tutor_."

Seifer's eyebrows shot up past his hairline. He gaped at Zell wide-eyed, unable to form complete sentences. Blinking, his mouth moved wordlessly until he found his voice again. "W-wait a second. Rinoa got _Squall_, Squall leave-me-the-_fuck_-alone Leonhart, to be her math tutor."

Zell laughed and nodded. "Yup. Pretty much."

Seifer looked around him, then grabbed the collar of Zell's shirt and dragged him--admist his rather loud protesting--into one of the shower stalls, yanking the curtain closed behind them. Pushing Zell up against the wall, he looked directly into Zell's fearful eyes and said, "You have to tell me _everything._"

"W-woah, dude, chill, I-I'll tell you," Zell replied, holding his hands up in defense and trying to pry Seifer's hands off his shirt. "Just _please_ don't kill me or rape me or--"

"_Rape_ you? Man, you're gross," Seifer spat, glaring at him. Zell glared back at him and wiped Seifer's spit off his face, finally managing to push the older boy off of him. "C'mon, chicken-wuss, spill."

Zell told him.

Seifer smiled to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Now _this_ is interesting..."

* * *

**A/N:** Ack. I'm so sorry :( My lack of updates is inexusable. But I will be more adamant about it, so I can get this story moving. Six chapters and barely a thing has happened... - sigh - Oh well. We'll get to the heart-wrenching parts eventually :)

**Now then. A review...maybe? :D**


	7. Chapter 7: A Negative Times A Negative

..»When She Came Along  
..»Chapter 7: A Negative Times Another Negative Makes a Positive  
..»By: ONiONLADi777  
..»Read and Reviewed by Lavender341 (thanks Nikki!)  
..»A/N: Wow, long time no update, huh? I can't make any promises, but here's to hoping I can get off my lazy ass and write some fanfiction for a change XD

* * *

"Wait, you _what_?"

Squall blinked at her. He had to have said this at least ten times by now.

Seifer leaned over and said, "Don't get too frustrated. It's not her fault she's math retarded—ow!"

Rinoa punched Seifer's arm, and with quite the impact from what Squall could hear. "Oh, shut up, Seifer." She flipped a section of dark hair over her shoulder and returned to the math work spread between them. Reaching for the edge of her textbook, her fingers brushed against Squall's briefly. He could have sworn he felt at least a million volts of electricity under her skin.

For the past week or so, Squall had been tutoring Rinoa almost every day at lunch. He didn't want to admit it, but it was becoming more and more apparent that Seifer was right. It wasn't a bad thing; Rinoa was just bad at math, plain and simple. If it was up to her, she had once said to him, she wouldn't have anything to do with math. Her gifts clearly rested in the arts, as he had seen in first period over the passing days with every piece she painted. But unfortunately for her (although fortunately for Squall), she had to pass Algebra II with at least a C or better in order to graduate.

And so here it was they found themselves.

"Okay, explain that to me again, just one more time, I promise," Rinoa said pleadingly. She gazed up at him with big brown eyes, so full of warmth and admiration Squall couldn't bring himself to say no or respond with a snide, sarcastic remark.

He cleared his throat and wiped his sweating palms on his jeans, trying to force himself to concentrate on the numbers on the page and not the girl next to him. "Okay, it's simple. Don't over think it."

She scoffed, twirling her pencil idly in her fingers. "Easy for you to say. You understand all of this stuff. You're taking _calculus_ for Hyne's sake."

Squall had to chuckle softly to himself. "Calculus makes even less sense."

She looked up at him, a small smile dancing on her face. "I'm sure you understand it just fine."

He felt himself smiling just slightly, and before he realized it, he was looking back at her and they were flat out staring at each other in the middle of their chaotic lunch table. The sound of Selphie's shrill voice yelling at Zell for something he did (or probably didn't do) brought him out of his trance and back to reality.

Clearing his throat, he turned his attention back to the math homework Rinoa had earlier admitted she should have done the night before. "Okay, so you're going to take the two and distribute it to the _x_ and the three and then..."

Suddenly Rinoa's eyes grew huge and she nearly jumped out of her seat and exclaimed, "_Oh_! Then you add five to both sides...and then, that's it, right?"

The corners of his lips curved upward in another soft smile. "Yeah. That's right."

Rinoa smiled at him, her eyes glittering with sunlight, and his heart tripped over and over and over itself as she wrote down the answer in her notebook.

This was something he wasn't accustomed to, something he was pretty sure he'd never felt in his entire life. He was used to wanting everyone around him to shut up and go away and for everyone to just leave him alone. With Rinoa, however, he wanted the opposite. He wanted her to look at him and smile just like she was now, for her to talk to him and be around just to keep him company. And he wanted to talk to her, to look at her and smile a true, genuine smile and just be happy for the first time in he didn't know how long.

And he definitely wasn't used to this feeling accumulating inside of him, for it to keep building and building every time he saw her or spoke to her or just heard her name. He wasn't sure what it was about her. Sure, there was the resemblance to his mother, but there was something else. There was her clumsiness that should have immediately turned him off, seeing as she nearly broke his nose with a volleyball, but it was somehow so endearing and left him wanting more. She wasn't the brightest crayon in the box when it came to math or science, but she still tried and made an effort, effort enough to convince Squall of all people to tutor her.

He wasn't sure what it was. But he liked it.

His throat was suddenly drier than the Galbadian desert and he swallowed hard.

"Squall?"

He blinked and Rinoa's face came back into focus. She was looking at him, with something resembling concern in her blinking eyes, a smile on her face.

"I thought I lost you there for a second."

"Right," he said, taking a quick sip of his abandoned water bottle beside him. "Um, let's keep going."

She smiled at him and nodded. "Okay."

He scanned the textbook page for another easy problem to do before tackling the harder stuff, and settled on one towards the bottom of the page, conveniently located next to where Rinoa's pinky was resting on the book. Swallowing hard, he pointed to it and said, "Let's try this one."

Rinoa nodded and re-wrote the problem in her notebook. She paused for a second, studying the numbers and variables in front of her, before turning to him and asking timidly, "Okay, so for this one, I multiple the negative three to both _x_ and the negative nine..."

She paused, glancing up at his eyes as if waiting for confirmation. He nodded, urging her to continue.

"...and then, since it's a negative number times _another_ negative number, the three and the nine would make a..._positive_ twenty-seven?"

Squall felt himself looking at her with a soft smile and nodded. "Yeah. That's right."

This time, he got the full wattage of her smile.

"Okay, so then, after that..." she trailed off, looking over the problem again, scrutinizing it. "The _x_ would be a negative three-_x_ because of the sign difference."

"Right."

"And then, you subtract twelve from both sides, so the _y_ is...what's that word?" she asked, snapping her fingers in an effort to remember.

"Isolated?" he volunteered.

She jumped and her eyes and smile grew huge. "Yeah! That." She wrote all of their verbal working of the problem in her notebook, then paused. "And so, after that, I'm done."

"Yeah," he replied, trying to ignore his heart racing at the speed of sound in his chest.

She sat back against the tree planter behind them and smiled, satisfied. "Okay, I think I actually get this now."

Her eyes landed on him and they softened with gratitude. "Thank you, Squall."

The air around him was filled with the sounds of birds chirping in their nest, the area brightened with the movement of a cloud uncovering the sun, the leaves overhead rustled pleasantly with the soft breeze blowing through the patio, and everything inside him and around him was pleasant, calm, relaxing, because he was looking at everything that was beautiful.

He couldn't help nodding and replying, almost happily, "You're welcome."

* * *

Quistis flicked Seifer's ear, making him jump and whip his head over to look at her.

She smirked. "It's rude to stare, you know."

Seifer gaped at her, trying to form some sort of explanation. "I wasn't—they were—I—"

"Seifer, you were gawking at them," she replied evenly, sipping her tea from her thermos. "And don't even try to deny it. I saw you."

He looked her over, then smiled softly. "You think I still like her, don't you?"

"What? I never said—Seifer—"

He shook his head, chuckling softly to himself and taking a bite out of his hamburger. "I didn't say you said it. I'm asking you."

She remained silent, and when Seifer looked up at her, she was looking back at him was eyes darkened with disappointment. "Do you?"

"What?" he asked, setting down his burger. "Still like her?"

Quistis nodded.

Seifer smiled, settling his hand over hers. They technically weren't together (they had only been on one date, really) and Quistis had been putting up every road block possible to avoid that happening, but it was becoming more and more apparent to Seifer that it was what she wanted. She had tried to lie and say she only started crushing his best friend about a year ago, but Seifer knew she had liked him since they all had been in seventh grade. He knew she still wanted Squall but had given up due to the brunet's lack of response and lack of interest. It wasn't Squall's fault, nor was it Quistis', it just worked out that way. Seifer couldn't blame her. And he didn't hold it against her.

She had just wanted to be wanted. That was all anyone wanted, really.

So given her history with getting hung up on one person right from the start, Seifer couldn't blame her for her suspicions about his feelings for Rinoa, either.

Quistis' stormy eyes flickered from Seifer's face to their now clasped hands, then back to him.

"No. I don't still like her."

She would never admit it to him, but relief settled over her like a ton of bricks and she smiled. He smiled back at her, briefly, before glancing over at Squall, who was sporting a gentle smile on his face as he and Rinoa looked up at each other. He would have smirked smugly and made some remark about how only nerds like them could seriously bond over algebra, had he not been relieved himself.

"It's just..." his voice trailed off, as if searching for the words. Quistis sat patiently, looking at him, waiting. He looked back at her and let out a deep breath he didn't realize he had been holding. "Look at him. He'll never admit it, but he's _happy_."

Quistis smiled, briefly, glancing over her shoulder at them.

"Hey," Seifer said softly, getting her attention. "I know that you wanted it to be you that, you know, brought him back."

Fear of discovery flashed in her eyes and she looked panicked. "Seifer, I—"

He smiled. "Hey, it's okay. I get it. I've always known. So don't even pretend that it isn't true."

Her shoulders dropped in relief and she looked at their joined hands, twirling her fingers around his. "I know it would have never worked between us...he's him and I'm me. I work all the time, at school, at home, at my job, and he's just...doesn't. He needs someone more subtle than me."

Seifer smirked. "Yeah, subtlety isn't one of your better qualities."

She rolled her eyes at him and ignored him.

Glancing over at his best friend, he continued, "It's just...it's been so long, you know? Since the accident...he hasn't been _him_ in forever. Even if it's just here at lunch, a few times a week...it's something, right? He's happy about something?"

She squeezed his hand and smiled. "It is something. And who knows, at the rate they're going, it could be something more, couldn't it?"

Seifer laughed to himself. "I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you."

* * *

Zell was strolling along through the halls on his merry way to his locker, when suddenly he was grabbed by the arm and shoved into a custodial closet.

He shouted and yelled at his captor, until they covered his mouth with a small, feminine hand. He froze for a split second, then broke free and spun around to discover Selphie slamming the door behind them and glaring at him.

"Geez, you are such a big _baby_ she groaned, adjusing her skirt and running her fingers through her hair. "You'd swear I was trying to rape you or something."

"Whoa! What the hell, Selphie, I only like you as a friend, you know—"

"Oh, shut up, Zell. You couldn't get a girl to have sex with you if you _tried—_"

"What? Are you saying I'm gay or something?"

Selphie howled with laughter as she pulled out her compact and fixed her hair. "You said it, not me. And dude, if you are, that's cool, I don't have a problem—"

"Tch! I'm not gay!"

Selphie slammed her mirror shut and tossed it back in her bright yellow bag, rolling her eyes. "Whatever, that's not even what I dragged you in here for."

"Well, could you explain why you did then?"

She stepped closer to him, lowering her voice. Zell rolled his eyes at Selphie's attempt to be covert; it wasn't like anyone in the loud, bustling hallway could hear them anyway.

"It's about Squall."

Now Zell was interested. Squall wasn't the nicest guy in the world, but Zell couldn't help admiring him. The guy was a genius, so far as Zell could tell, and his new friend Rinoa was head over heels for him. At least, it seemed like she was, considering all she basically talked about in gym was him. If Zell really was gay, he was pretty sure he'd want to get in Squall's pants. And Seifer had hinted at Squall's loneliness, and Zell wanted him to find someone that could fill the voids that were present in his life.

At least, that was how over-dramatic Selphie had put it.

Zell felt his eyes lighting up at the mention of Squall's name. "What about him?"

Selphie literally started flailing her hands and arms around excitedly. "Did you _see_ him and Rinoa today? They totally like each other! And they look so _cute_ together!"

Zell laughed. "I guess so—ow!"

Selphie had slapped him on the arm and was currently back to glaring at him. "Definitely so! We have to get them together, pronto! You have to talk to Seifer, find out if he'd be interested, try to get one of them to make the first move—"

"Tch, okay, fine! I'll ask him," Zell replied, rubbing his arm where Selphie had slapped him. That must have satisifed her, because right before his eyes she transformed back into the happy, bubbly Selphie she normally was. She clapped her hands together excitedly, then spun around and waltzed out of the closet, calling over her shoulder, "See ya!"

Zell rolled his eyes and muttered to himself, "Whatever."


End file.
